Brightspace has a basic Chat tool which can be used by
staff and students for synchronous chatting.
When you set up chat rooms, you can choose between
General chats and Personal chats. General chats can be
used by anyone enrolled on your module/unit/course
while Personal chat rooms are restricted to staff and
students enrolled within the room.
Setting up a General chat in the Brightspace Chat tool
To set up a General chat room which can be accessed by anyone on your module/unit/course, follow the steps below.
Start by selecting Chat from the Communication and Collaboration drop-down menu. (Figure 1)
This will take you to the Chat tool.
Figure 1: Communication and Collaboration drop-down menu with the Chat link
Once you are in the Chat tool, click on the blue New Chat button to start setting up your General chat. (Figure 2)
Figure 2: Chat tool homepage with the New Chat button
Once the chat editor opens, give your chat a title.
For this guide, the chat will be called General chat, but you should give it a meaningful name that fits the purpose of the chat. This will help students locate the correct chat.
Underneath the title, select General Chat.
If you would like, you can add an optional description to the chat.
When you are done, click on the blue Create button at the bottom of the page. (Figure 3)
Figure 3: New Chat set up window
You will now see your new General chat in the list of chats. (Figure 4)
Figure 4: Newly created chat in the list of existing chats
Setting up a General chat in the Brightspace Chat tool
To set up a Personal chat room which can only be accessed by staff and students enrolled on the chat, follow the steps below.
Start by selecting Chat from the Communication and Collaboration drop-down menu. (Figure 5)
Figure 5: Communication and Collaboration drop-down menu with the Chat link
Once you are in the Chat tool, click on the blue New Chat button to start setting up your Personal chat. (Figure 6)
Figure 6: Chat tool homepage with the New Chat button
Once the chat editor opens, give your chat a title.
For this guide, the chat will be called Personal chat, but you should give it a meaningful name that fits the purpose of the chat. This will help students locate the correct chat.
Underneath the title, select Personal Chat.
If you would like, you can add an optional description to the chat.
When you are done, click on the blue Create button at the bottom of the page. (Figure 7)
Figure 7: New Chat set up window
You will now see your new Personal chat in the list of chats.
To start adding members to the chat, click on the drop-down menu next to the chat name and select View Members from the menu.(Figure 8)
Figure 8: Newly created chat with drop-down menu allowing you to view and add members
You will now be able to see the members that are already enrolled. By default, this will include you.
To add further members, click on the grey Add Members button above the list of members. (Figure 9)
Figure 9: View and add new members screen
You will now see your classlist.
Enroll members by selecting the checkbox next to their name. (Figure 10)
When you are done, click on the blue Add button which you will see at the bottom of the pop-up window.
Figure 10: Enrol new members pop-up window
Pointing students to a chat in Brightspace
Yourself and students alike should access chats via the chat tool.
Just like yourself, students will be able to access the chat tool via the Communication and Collaboration drop-down menu. (Figure 11)
Figure 11: Communication and Collaboration drop-down menu with the Chat link
Participating in a Brightspace chat
Similar to accessing the chat room, participating in chats works the same way for staff and students. Once you have accessed the chat tool, do the following to participate in any of the chats.
Once you are inside the chat tool, you (and students) can access a chat by clicking on the link to the chat room, i.e. General chat in this example. (Figure 12)
Figure 12: Chat tool homepage with existing chats
Once you are inside the chat, you will see a very basic window. (Figure 13)
Figure 13: Chat room page\
On the left-hand side you will see the participants in the chat. The main part of the screen toward the right-hand side is the actual chat.
Here you will see who joined or left the chat as well as any messages in the chat.
To type a message, use the text box below the chat. To send your message, click on the grey Send button.
Once you are finished, click on the grey exit button to leave the chat. (Figure 14)
Figure 14: Chat room page
Tip: You can customise your chat settings at any time by clicking on the Settings link in the top right-hand side corner. (Figure 15)
Figure 15: Settings link in the top right-hand corner of the chat tool
Chat history
Once everyone has exited the chat, Brightspace will generate a report for the chat session. To access this report, do the following:
To access the chat history, click on the drop-down menu next to a chat title, and select View Sessions from the menu. (Figure 16)
Figure 16: List of existing chats with drop-down menu allowing you to see previous chat sessions
This will take you to the Chat Sessions overview. There you will see all sessions that have taken place for this chat. For each session, you will see details, such as the Start and End Date and Time, the Duration and the Number of Messages.
To view the detailed history and messages that were exchanged, click on the blue link under Start Date. (Figure 17)
Figure 17: Chat Sessions history